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“Fight for LA–Don’t Think So”

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This will be fun on Sunday afternoon.

Chargers-vs-Rams, in a jam packed LA Coliseum.

Firepower vs Firepower. Coaching Wizardry-vs-Toughness. Athletes everywhere..

For the Rams, this is the begging of an amazing 9-week stretch of games, that either makes them a Super Bowl contender, or puts them in a hole.

Sean McVay’s team faces Philip Rivers and his high powered offense, followed by Kirk Cousins-Minnesota…..road games to play Russell Wilson-Seattle…Case Keenum-Denver….and the 49ers…..then a home game with Aaron Rodgers-Green Bay….a battle at New Orleans with Drew Brees, then the Seahawks again and Kansas City and Pat Mahomes, all before they stagger to a bye week.

For the Chargers, another big litmus test, against a good team, after they failed opening day against Kansas City.,continuing a slide that began last year, when they beat only 3-teams with winning record.

Sunday’s shootout should be something to watch. Rivers and an offense averaging 445-yards per game, opposed by 2nd year starter Jared Goff and a Rams offense averaging 398-yards a game.

The Bolts show them Keenan Allen, the Rams counter with Brandin Cooks (20YPC) and Robert Woods (17YPC).

You’ve got the catch and run tactics of Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler, who have (440) all purpose yards between them. The Rams counter with do-everything star Todd Gurley.

The defenses are led by vibrant coordinators, the legendary Wade Philips, and the Chargers Gus Bradley.

The fascinating storyline for the Chargers has been the growth of 1st round draft pick S-Derwin James and the play of linebacker Uchenna Nwosu.

The Rams stole the off season thunder with the acquisitions of volatile players Marcus Peter, Ndomakong Suh and Aqib Talib.

Rivers will have to make this a throwing contest to keep up with all the weapons Goff has. Somebody’s defense will get turnovers, but without Joey Bosa and Corey Liuget it might not be the Bolts.

Much will be made about the Rams fan support and lack there-of of so-called Chargers fans. The standing job is that the Chargers are the only team to play 16-road games a year with what the Stub Hub Center has turned into.

This will likely be a referendum of who really owns the Los Angeles market, the heritage of the Rams dating back to the 1940s, or the upstart Chargers, stolen from San Diego by the owner in January 2017.

If you like fireworks, this will be a dandy, maybe something like 42-31.

My heart would love to see Rivers pull off a stunning win. My head says that’s doubtful because the Rams have the better defense.

My head says the Rams own LA, and the Chargers belong in San Diego, and my heart says Dean Spanos deserves nothing but losses upon losses.

Fight for LA? Don’t think so. It’s the Rams market and they are the hot team. We’ll see who can win on the field.

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“NFL Hall of Famers-Shamers”

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it was stupid thing to do, and now they cannot take back the words,nor the intent.

A select group of NFL Hall of Famers put their names to a letter, demanding the National Football League pay them an annual salary of 300,000 a year plus health benefits.

As NFL ambassadors, with the Gold Jackets, they want more green.

There are 181-living Hall of Famers, and I am sure a number need a helping hand, and yes the NFL is rolling in doe

But there is an alarming fact that needs to be considered.

The letter, authored by Eric Dickerson, Lawrence Taylor and more, references those in the Hall of Fame. The select, the elite, many well-to-do. It ignores the masses.

There are some 4,100 currently living retired NFL players, and many of them are ailing.

Yes the NFL is working to distribute money to the ill, and damaged players, many who are troubled people, all via the Concussion settlement.

The NFL is still living with the stigma of the some 21-modern day players who took their lives because of CTE, and life altering diseases.

The most bothersome part of this letter, aside from the fact it comes off as a money grab by those with some leverage, is the fact they, the Hall of Famers, ignore the masses of fellow players.

They don’t ask the NFL to fund an insurance plan for all retired players to buy into. They don’t ask the NFL to increase pension stipends for players from the 70s-thru 90’s, who don’t have it as good as the modern retirees have.

Everything in the NFL comes thru bargaining with the union, and in the past, the late Gene Upshaw, the union chief, didn’t care about the brothers he played with back in the day. He only wanted to rep the current day players.

DeMaurice Smith has worked harder to upgrade benefits, but the NFL retired players deals are weak in comparison to what baseball players get.

It may be 2018, but some things haven’t changed, especially for the likes of Dickerson and LT.

It’s about them, has always been about them.

Now they re running for cover saying the letter was meant to help all current retired players. Wasn’t worded that way.

Not likely, especially when you consider what happened to those guys in 1987.

That was an NFL strike year, a walkout that lasted 3-weeks. it was about increased benefits for players, and the changing of NFL free agency compensation.

By the third week, veteran players caved, and crossed the picket lines, ending the strike, and not getting what they hoped to get.

And who walked across the line that weekend….Eric Dickerson and Lawrence Taylor, big money players, who wanted to get their regular paychecks.

Screw the little guy they did that day.

Just like this Hall of Fame letter, which in essence said screw the other guy, the 4,100 retired players.

Some things never change, at least with Eric the great and LT.

Hall of Famers, acting in Shame.

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“Tennis-Tired of the Trash Talk”

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It’s been a week since the sleazy ending of the US Open Tourney in Flushing Meadow, the tourney where the Serena Williams temper tantrum overshadowed the huge victory of Japanese sensation Naomi Osaka.

Serena was slapped with 17,000-in fines, besieged with a cavalcade of boos from the fans, and created such an uproar that Osaka broke into tears at the trophy presentation.

Williams outrage at penalties imposed by the chair came as a result of ‘her’ violation of the rules, taking instruction from her coach during the finals match.

She went into full throated screeching, calling the chair judge a thief….demanding an apology for the insinuation she was cheating.

More points after she smashed her racket in anger after line calls and poor play.

And it went on and on, as Osaka piled up points in the straight set win.

Then the uproar during the Osaka trophy presentation, which triggered an overflow of boos,…followed by another tirade in the post match press conference.

It’s one thing to criticize the chair, hell that was a common sight during the Jon McEnroe-Ilie Nastase era.

But then to insinuate it was gender related, guys get away with more than women on the court…and then infer had something to with white-vs-black. Penalty points everywhere.

And to finish it off, she decided to pull out the ‘woe-is-me’ …’I am the mother of a young baby’ card as if that has anything to do with the game itself.

Credit Serena with a spectacular bounce back to form, to get to the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open, just 9-months after a tough birth-delivery.

But she’s not the first athlete to struggle to regain form after childbirth. And how many times do we have to list to the sad song of how tough it was. Mother and baby are fine.

Mother’s tennis game is still pretty good too.

But Mom’s attitude has gone into double-fault status.

And the New York Times did a research piece on Grand Slam events going back two decades, who was penalized for what in scraps with the chair judges.

Fines by Gender at Grand Slam Tournaments
All Fines, 1998-2018 Men Women
Racket Abuse 646 99
Audible Obscenity 344 140
Unsportsmanlike Conduct 287 67
Coaching 87 152
Ball Abuse 49 35
Verbal Abuse 62 16
Visible Obscenity 20 11

A bad display of sportsmanship has become a growing concern for Serena Williams. She has carried the sport as a superstar for so long. Why sully the reputation.

She’s greater that Steffi Graff, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Billie Jean King.

Serena needs to get back to that style, not just on the court, but with her public image.

The only thief on the court, the only cheat on the court, was Serena, for what should have been a breathtaking moment for the young Japanese star, that instead turned into a crying session.

Serena stole the moment, and cheated her competitor out of a memory for a lifetime. That’s a double fault on Williams reputation.

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“When is Losing Acceptable?”

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In baseball terms, maybe we need to issue a ‘free-pass’ to the San Diego Padres ownership and leadership for this summer of bad last place baseball.

At least we are not the Baltimore Orioles with a (43-107) record with bad ownership and a failed farm system. San Diego is not the Reds, nor Kansas City where losing has returned after the World Series appearances.

The Padres hope to be the next Astros or Cubs, going thru summers of suffering, waiting for a truckload of minor leaguers to arrive.

It’s too early to tell if there is a Jose Altuve-Carlos Correa-George Springer group of stars in San Diego yet.

1-thing is certain, 14-rookie have made their debuts in this (60-90) learn on the job summer.

Hunter Renfroe has arrived. We are awaiting the return to health of Fernando Tatis-Luis Urias to see if that is the double play combination for a decade.

Franmill Reyes has hit his way into some type of consideration for everyday plate, at least with his bat, but not so much his glove.

We have seen Manny Margot and Austin Hedges,

The flashes of kid-catcher Francisco Mejia have been impressive with his power displays.

We now know Joey Luchessi and Eric Lauer can pitch. You only hope Dinelson Lamet and Luis Pedomo return to form from arm problems.

The hard-throwing kid releivers Castillo-Wingenter-Maton all appear tohave roles.

The next wave of pitching talent will show up in the spring with an opportunity to show they belong, most notably Logan Allen and Calvin Quantrill.

The team is sending 71-prospects, from its 8-farmclubs, to the Arizona Fall League for further play and instruction.

The truckload of Cubans they signed 2-summers ago are all expected to move up a notch or two in the farm system, though Adrian Morejon and Jorge Ona seem miles and miles away still.

This year’s draft crop, led by Owen Miller and othrs had great debut seasons, but that’s in the lower minors, not close to the National League level.

This summer has been hard to watch. High ERAs, record strikeouts, poor defensive lapses, and more trades of veteran pitching.

But for the bad spell of 23-losses in 28-games, with the terrible spring plunge, when they went from 4-games under .500 to 31-games under that mark, you always knew the blueprint was in place, and patience was going to be as important as base hits, home runs and ERAs.

So we sit here with just 1-more short homestand left after this Giants series.

We see some progress, but of course there are still lots of questions.

Losing wears you out. Attendance may just sneak across the 2-million threshold, where once upon a time, the team, in the new ballpark, drew 3M.

I will issue a ‘free pass’ to the Fowler-Seidler ownership group and the Preller-led front office, this one time only..

The Padres may lose 95-again this year, but they are ahead of the curve in terms of talent arriving, and more to be delivered. I’d rather be in San Diego rather than Baltimore-Cincinnati-Kansas City, and I’m not just talking about the wether.

This is the 1-summer where losing has to be acceptable. Next year, better be a .500-team. A playoff team in two years.

That’s what my blueprint reads. Their’s better too.

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“Aztecs Football-Great Things-Unnoticed”

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In a city that no longer has an NFL franchises….with a baseball team in what appears to be a lifetime of rebuilding…there’s only 1-winner in town.

Rocky Long-leader of the San Diego State football program.

It’s not just about winning seasons, or victories in second level bowl games.

it’s about beating big time teams, scoring victories over rivals who once dominated them.

It’s about preparation in games…adjustments in games….demands of attention to detail…and recruiting good kids and good student athletes, developing them as players and people.

It may be old school, but it works, witness Saturday nights win over Arizona State.

The Aztecs, without their quarterback Christian Chapman, used the next man up, Ryan Agnew to manage the game.

They went back to old reliable, a sledgehammer running game, with Juwan Washington and Chase Jasmin to pile up (311Y) against a Pac 12-school.

And then it was vintage Rocky-ball defense..that choked off Sun Devils QB-Manny Wilken. Go ahead and complete 31-passes…throw for nearly 400-yards…but good luck getting it into the end zone. They gave up just 2-touchdowns to one of the Pac 12’s big time throwers.

It was remnants of a huge upset win over Cal, at that time led by NFL quarterback Davis Webb, who threw for a ton except into the end zone.

Long may be the best we have ever seen at making adjustments during the heat of battle, and he’s doing it with roster much less talented than say Alabama’s Nick Saban.

Flashback and remember them beating Stanford and ASU last year; Cal the year before that; the conference playoff wins in Wyoming; winning at Boise State; the come from behind bowl battering they gave the Houston Cougars.

Add in long distance field goal kicker John Baron, a definite NFL prospect, and you have a mix of talent that has led this program to a (66-30) record since taking over the Red & Black.

They are going to run the ball downhill. They are going to beat you up on defense. The coaching staff will move the Xs and Os around till you cannot score anymore.

Pick a nickname, “Running Back U”…..”Linebackers Are Us”…..”1-City-1 Team”….and it all fits.

In a city that has lost so much, Aztecs football is winning. Time for football fans to notice that, and fill the stadium every home game.

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